FC Porto vs Newcastle Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

In a dramatic and exciting race for the Portuguese league title throughout the last season, FC Porto emerged victorious over rivals Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, winning their first title since the 2012-13 season, and ending it unbeaten at home.

It has been all change personnel-wise for the club however, with full backs Diogo Dalot and Ricardo Pereira moving to Manchester United and Leicester City respectively, as well as club stalwarts like Andre Andre also moving on. In their place the club has largely bought in young talent, with their acquisitions having an average age of 23, such as the promising right-back Saidy Janko. It remains to be seen whether the roster of new young players can fulfill their talent and gel quickly and effectively to maintain Porto’s balanced style of play and challenge once again for the title. With mainstays such as Yacine Brahimi and Vicent Aboubakar seemingly poised to remain at the club, it is very likely they will do just that.

Their pre-season has not been the most promising, with losses to Lille and Portimonense no reason for panic but surely not the results Porto would have wanted, especially against teams they should be beating with ease. Their most recent game was a 1-0 win against Everton, which does ease the worry, and come the start of the season the club should be well-placed to enter into yet another three-way fight for the title.

In contrast, Newcastle had a relatively comfortable campaign in the Premier League, finishing in mid-table, a remarkable achievement given the relative lack of quality the team has and the limited budget available to Rafael Benitez, who showed what a world-class manager he is.

This summer appears to be no different from the last, with a transfer emphasis on freebies, low sell-out clauses and selling to buy. Ki-Seung-Yeung has arrived from Swansea on a free transfer, whilst goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and defender Fabian Schar have arrived for under £5m. These are shrewd signings but you get the impression that Benitez wants a lot more in terms of numbers and quality to fully implement his tight, counter-attacking focused style of play with the team. The sales of midfielder Mikel Merino and potentially striker Alexander Mitrovic could provide the funds needed for the manager to do this and give the team a much-needed refresh for what could be a tough Premier League campaign.

Newcastle’s pre-season hasn’t really got started yet, with two games against St Patricks and Hull ending in a win and a draw, positive results but Benitez will be looking at this tour of Portugal to really get an idea of where his team is at.

For this game however, we think that Benitez could be disappointed with the result. Whilst there are question marks over the new signings, Porto certainly have the quality to beat Newcastle with relative ease if their big names turn up, with players like Brahimi being able to turn a game on its head in a flash. However, Newcastle have a fantastic team spirit and with the speed they can counter-attack with, driven by the passing of Jonjo Shelvey, the team nicking a goal is not out of the question.

That is why a “Porto to win & BTTS” bet could have real value, especially as the odds will favour a low-scoring game. A correct score prediction of 2-1 would also reflect the potentially tight nature of the game but with a Porto victory at the end of it.